Editing Aerope (section)

==Mythology==
===In Crete===
According to the tradition followed by [[Euripides]] in his lost play ''Cretan Women'' (''Kressai''), Catreus found Aerope in bed with a slave and handed her over to [[Nauplius (mythology)|Nauplius]] to be drowned. Instead, Nauplius spared Aerope's life and she married [[Pleisthenes]].<ref>Hard, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA355 p. 355]; Gantz, p. 271. Euripides' treatment of the story is according to the Scholia on [[Sophocles]], [[Ajax (play)|''Ajax'']] 1297, citing Euripides' ''Cretan Women'', see: Collard and Cropp 2008a, [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/euripides-dramatic_fragments/2008/pb_LCL504.521.xml pp. 520, 521]; Webster, pp. 37&ndash;38; Jebb's note to ''Ajax'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0024:text=comm:commline=1295 1295 '''Κρήσσης'''].</ref> [[Sophocles]], in his play [[Ajax (play)|''Ajax'']], may also refer to Aerope's father finding her in bed with a man and handing her over to Nauplius to be drowned. However, the potentially corrupt text may instead refer to Aerope's husband Atreus finding her in bed with Thyestes, and having her drowned (see below).<ref>Gantz, pp. 554&ndash;555; Jebb's note to ''Ajax'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0024:text=comm:commline=1296 1296 '''ὁ φιτύσας πατήρ'''].  The possible Sophoclean reference is found in lines 1295&ndash;1297, spoken by [[Teucer]] to [[Agamemnon]]. Here, by way of insulting Agamemnon, Teucer malign's Agamemnon's mother Aerope as having been found in bed with a strange man, by a "father" who then has her drowned. The difficulty arises in knowing whose "father" is meant, Aerope's, or Agamemnon's. Compare [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0011.tlg003.perseus-eng1:1290-1315 Jebb's]: "a Cretan mother, ''whose father'' (i.e. Catrues) found ... ",  with's [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/sophocles-ajax/1994/pb_LCL020.149.xml Lloyd-Jones's]: "a Cretan mother, ''whom your father'' (i.e. Atreus), finding ...".</ref>

The mythographer [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]] followed a different tradition, with no mention of any sexual transgression. In his account, Catreus gave Aerope and her sister Clymene to Nauplius to be sold off in foreign lands after an oracle prophesied that he would be killed by one of his children. Aerope's brother Althaemenes also found out about the prophecy, and fearing that ''he'' would be the one to kill Catreus, fled to [[Rhodes]] with Apemosyne.<ref>Collard and Cropp 2008a, [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/euripides-dramatic_fragments/2008/pb_LCL504.517.xml pp. 516&ndash;518]; [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Apollod.+3.2 3.2].</ref> In this telling, Aerope eventually becomes the wife of Pleisthenes.

===In Mycenae===
From Crete, Aerope was taken to [[Mycenaean Greece|Mycenae]]. There, while the wife of Atreus, she became the lover of Atreus' twin brother [[Thyestes]], involving herself in the brothers' power struggle for the kingship of Mycenae.<ref>Gantz, pp. 545&ndash; 556. For Aerope as lover of Thyestes, see Gantz, pp. 546&ndash;547; [[Aeschylus]], [[Agamemnon (play)|''Agamemnon'']] [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Aesch.+Ag.+1191 1191&ndash;1193]; Euripides, ''[[Electra (Euripides play)|Electra]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Eur.+El.+719 719&ndash;720], ''[[Orestes (play)|Orestes]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Eur.%20Orest.%201009 1009&ndash;1010]; [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Apollod.Epit+E.2.10 E.2.10]; [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''[[Fabulae]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/206#86 86]; [[Ovid]], ''[[Ars Amatoria]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/ovid-art_love/1929/pb_LCL232.35.xml 1.327&ndash;330], [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/ovid-art_love/1929/pb_LCL232.37.xml 1.341&ndash;342]. A small "correction" of the text would make [[Sophocles]], [[Ajax (play)|''Ajax'']] [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Soph.+Aj.+1295 1295&ndash;1297] a reference to the adultery of Aerope with Thyestes, see Gantz, pp. 554&ndash; 555.</ref>

Atreus and Thyestes were the sons of [[Pelops]] and [[Hippodamia (daughter of Oenomaus)|Hippodamia]], king and queen of [[Pisa, Greece|Pisa]].<ref>Gantz, pp. 543&ndash;544. For Apollodorus' account of their story see [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Apollod.Epit+E.2.10 E.2.10&ndash;12].</ref>  Their desire for their father's throne led to the murder of their half-brother [[Chrysippus (mythology)|Chrysippus]], for which they were banished, and sought refuge in Mycenae.<ref>Gantz, pp. 489, 544&ndash;545; [[Thucydides]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0105%3Abook%3D1%3Achapter%3D9 1.9]; [[Plato]], ''[[Cratylus (dialogue)|Cratylus]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text;jsessionid=86AA2DB30BF3E6B6739755831DCDA974?doc=Plat.+Crat.+395b 395b]; [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''[[Fabulae]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/206#85 85].</ref> According to Hyginus, the brothers were encouraged to commit the act by their mother Hippodamia, who killed herself upon being accused of doing so.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hyginus |editor-last=Grant |editor-first=Mary |title=Fabulae |url=https://topostext.org/work/206#243 |access-date=2024-09-20 |website= |page=243 |language=en}}</ref> When the [[Perseid dynasty|Perseid]] dynasty came to an end, the Myceneans received a prophesy saying they should choose a son of Pelops as their king. Aerope stole the golden lamb (a portent linked to the kingship of Mycenae) from her husband Atreus and gave it to Thyestes, so that the Myceneans would choose Thyestes as their king.<ref>Gantz, p. 547; Hard, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA506 p. 506]; [[Euripides]], ''[[Electra (Euripides play)|Electra]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Eur.+El.+699 699&ndash;725], ''[[Orestes (play)|Orestes]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Eur.%20Orest.%20810 810 ff.], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Eur.%20Orest.%20995 995 ff.]; [[Plato]], [[Statesman (dialogue)|''Statesman'']] [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0172:text=Stat.:section=268e 268e]; [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Apollod.Epit+E.2.10 E.2.10&ndash;11]; [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+2.18.1 2.18.1]. The golden lamb was perhaps included in Sophocles' ''Atreus'', and Euripides' ''Cretan Women'', see Gantz, p. 546, and, regarding ''Cretan Women'', Webster, p. 38. For a discussion of the golden lamb, with many other sources, see Frazer's note to Apollodorus, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Apollod.Epit+E.2.12 E.2.12].</ref>

From Byzantine period annotations to Euripides' ''Orestes,'' we learn that, in some unspecified Sophocles work, Atreus cast Aerope into the sea in revenge for her adultery and theft of the golden lamb.<ref>Byzantine scholia at ''Orestes'' line 812, see Gantz, pp. 548, 555 and Jebb's note to ''Ajax'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0024:text=comm:commline=1296 1296 '''ὁ φιτύσας πατήρ'''].</ref>